The Rev. Jesse Jackson apologized to Sen. Barack Obama on Wednesday for disparaging comments he made during a recent off-air moment following an interview expected to air on Fox News.
“If in this thing that I’ve said in a hot mic statement, that’s interpreted as distraction, I offer apologies for that because I don’t want harm or hurt to come to this campaign,” Jackson said at a news conference inside his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition headquarters on Chicago’s South Side. “It represents too much of the dreams of so many who’ve paid such great prices.”
Jackson, scheduled to speak this weekend in Denver, said he did not want his remarks, still not fully known, to distract from the Illinois Democrat’s presidential bid.
“I hope what we’ve done in this situation does not distract from that message,” Jackson said.
Jackson is set to appear from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday at the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library in Denver and to give a sermon at 11 a.m. Sunday at Friendship Baptist Church.
Fox has begun to release excerpts of the video, including one where Jackson whispers that Obama is “talking down to black people.” It is also believed that Jackson at one point talks about Obama having part of his male anatomy “cut off.”
Jackson said that whatever was said, he remains committed to trying to help Obama win.
“What I want to get clear is my support for Barack and his policies are long-standing, broad-based and deep and unequivocal,” he said.
Jackson said he had not spoken about the matter yet with Obama.
“We have a relationship that can survive this,” he said.
Obama’s campaign issued a statement almost immediately after Jackson ended his news conference.
“As someone who grew up without a father in the home, Sen. Obama has spoken and written for many years about the issue of parental responsibility, including the importance of fathers participating in their children’s lives,” Obama spokesman Bill Burton said. “He also discusses our responsibility as a society to provide jobs, justice, and opportunity for all. He will continue to speak out about our responsibilities to ourselves and each other, and he, of course, accepts Rev. Jackson’s apology.”
Jackson would not say whether he thought Fox should air the unscripted moment, but he did not blame the media for reporting the incident.
“That’s a decision you guys have to make,” he said. “It’s my responsibility. It’s not yours.”
Jackson repeatedly stressed his “54-year journey” in the civil rights movement and that he believes Obama has taken the effort to a new level. “I wish Dr. King could see this,” he said.
Jackson’s remarks also drew a strong rebuke from his son, U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.
“I’m deeply outraged and disappointed in Rev. Jackson’s reckless statements about Sen. Barack Obama. His divisive and demeaning comments about the presumptive Democratic nominee — and I believe the next president of the United States — contradict his inspiring and courageous career,” he said in a statement.
“Rev. Jackson is my dad, and I’ll always love him,” he continued. “He should know how hard that I’ve worked for the last year and a half as a national co-chair of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. So, I thoroughly reject and repudiate his ugly rhetoric. He should keep hope alive and any personal attacks and insults to himself.”
